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tv   Face the Nation  CBS  September 7, 2014 5:00pm-5:31pm PDT

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>> schieffer: welcome back. we're here with three of the best to talk about it analyze it peggy noonan from the "wall street journal." david ignatious of the "washington post," peter baker of the "new york times." the president is going to make a speech on wednesday. what does he need to say? >> i think he complains what his strategy s. it's time to come out say what it is. he had elements of it already out there, went to nato he talked to allies there about joining a coalition, he wants to obviously arm and do better with the syrian army going to need to help american public what he wants to accomplish to, detroy isil or isis or shrink to manageable size needs to reconcile these different messages that have been sent in
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the last few days. >> peggy, how did we get and how did the president get to where he is now, where you hear people saying does he understand this is really important? >> it's a very funny thing. we have had a few weeks actually a few months in which we have seen when we look at that part of the world, iraq and northern ear gentleman, isis, grimmist, most terrible, beheadings and the now treatment of so many people, it's quite shocking. and yet the president's comments on this immediate crisis have been -- have varied from, this is very serious to not so terribly serious i think the biggest thing he has to do wednesday night is tell us, this is how i really see it. this is what we're really going to do. this is how we're going to do it. this is doable. he's going to have to regain something he's lost in the past
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few months, maybe credibility on these serious foreign affairs issues. >> schieffer: i want to get your perspective on this same question. obviously people are questioning , are they question everything, should he have gone on vacation to should he have gone to stonehenge on the day that he held this news conference about all of this. i've been here a long time i can't remember a president getting criticized for going on vacation. the criticism seems pointed this time around it's not all just coming from republicans. >> he's on his back foot. he's defensive every thing he says often ends up looking like the wrong thing even if when you parse it, there's some sense in the middle of it. i think in this speech wednesday night in addition to laying out the details of policies so americans understand what we're going to do. understand where we're going he needs to bring an emotional
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resonance to what he says, not to flatter our host, the piece you did remembering 9/11 what it felt like some of that has to come through from the president because he's taking us back in to a deadly conflict with a very dangerous adversary i hope it will have both. have clear detail, emotional power. >> schieffer: i mean, is emotion -- the president during his news conference said that he tried to layout, look we're trying to be very deliberate about that. i think probably that's a good thing. we have to be -- >> don't have to worry about deliberate. he gets that just fine. what he needs to worry about is the other part. >> the same time americans are so used to hearing their political figures try to tug at their heartstrings and hit their heart all that stuff. i think the to america is the brain, i think the president has to sort of say, you know what, let me tell what you is difference about isis and why
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this is a very specific thing in history and why because of that we do have to move forward and do something. i do not think people saying he needs passion. i keep saying he needs good, clear sense. >> schieffer: you heard henry kissinger, basically said i already hit him. he basically said, there cannot be a measured response when we see the kind of atrocities. i think what he was trying to say, what did he say here, is to get through to the american people that i understand how awful this is and we're going to do something about it. >> i think that's right. part of the passion, or sense of understanding, visceral understanding ever ho you horrible the beheading videos were how horrible the situation on the ground not just for americans but for syrians and iraqis hard for him it seems to convey. that we're impatient. we want to hit right away.
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remember after you talked about 9/11, after 9/11 took four weeks before president bush did anything in afghanistan because it does take time to get the surveillance right, what targets, to figure out what your strategy s. even person like president bush is often criticized for cowboy actions, took time to figure out what the plan is. that's what president obama has done we're not a patient society right now isis doesn't make us feel like we want to be patient. >> looking before for the way to respond, let's go bomb them, you have to have something to bomb. we saw some overnight, they hit isis around this second dam which apparently there was worry that they were going to take that over. >> if you want a little model of what is ahead, what the strategy is, look to the events of the last 48 hours. use their power over new targets in the anbar province in the western part of iraq to hit isil
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fighters at this dam. hitting them at another dam in the north now they are at the hadefa dam. iraqi special separations forces trained by the u.s., maintain good contact with them came in to hit the isil fighters on the ground, joined by, we're told, iraqi sunni tribal fighters, organizing a quiet effort that involves saudi arabia, the uae, jordan and u.s. over the last months. that's the shape of what is coming. it's a very tough strategy to execute but it's getting started, and it's go -- problem is you have to go house to house in mosul, in fallujah, in ramadi all these cities where they're dug in what is going to do that if it's not americans? >> schieffer: that's the question here. you don't do that with airplanes. do you that with troops on the ground and can there be a successful strategy without u.s.
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troops or troops from some place in the west going in there to do this? >> i feel like in a way we're confusing two things. it is one thing to say u.s. guys in there, intelligence for guidance for some leadership i get that. that's different from, hey, guys, let's invade a nation and do nation building. isis is a specific threat. we know 50 targets which we can go bam, boom, boom, yes, human beings on the ground. this doesn't have to be hundreds ever thousands of americans invading a country that does not want us. it's different. as i hear the president in his interview, i think he allies the two. >> schieffer: i'm not advocating that we send u.s. troops there but somebody is going to have to do this. peter, what is latest news on iraqi government, are they going to be able to come together and
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form some kind -- >> that's key to this. because we're not going to put troops on the ground in substantial numbers have to be iraqis to do it. you have to do new government. malaki is on the way out. make sure that they form this new government as they promise to do because otherwise it doesn't go anywhere. you look at syria we don't have government we're working with. we're at odds with him, he should go. who are our friends there, our proxies are the free syrian army maybe 4,000 some fighters that we've trained and vetted on very large force, haven't been very effective so far can we make them more effective on the ground to go along with hair power. very big question, you follow isis to the gates of hell you don't do a drone. how do you get there? >> schieffer: are there other ground forces in that part of the world that could physician we could convince them to do it, could be a factor here? >> the truth is the united states is going to have to keep
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trying to build them, especially syria. we've decided that we're not going to ally with president bashar who is going after isil himself. there are plans now taking shape, i just talked to the head of the syrian moderate oppositions anti--isil cell. there are plans to build a force to go along with the force that peter mentioned that the cia has been training covertly. as peter said between 4-5,000 people with much billinger force that would be trained by our military trainers under overt legal program go in to areas where you bomb and isiv on the run then you need something, one lesson from iraq. don't knock the pegs out without being able to fill the vacuum. >> and isis oisil mystique. they have mystique going for them. they have been winning so far,
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that has to be broken and world needs to see that it is broken and it can be broken but you have to move relatively quickly and sharply. >> schieffer: somebody deconstruct the president's latest pronouncements on immigration. >> he said he's going to wait until after election to take action but he will take it which is interesting formulation, of course. it's calculation on some level that he doesn't believe that the action he would take, we will take would be ratified by american voters in two months in the mid term election. also recognition if he makes that the central issue for a lot of races, where democrats are vulnerable if the senate goes republican because of his decision to do it, he obviously has blow back within his own party. he thinks that making it easier for illegals to stay here would
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be sustainable only if it's taken outside of this electoral environment where billion dollars worth of ads would fight it out he wants to wait until after the election much like he did with other issues like don't ask -- >> schieffer: which i found interesting he was not doing this for political reasons yet all weekend white house officials officials have been briefing reporters on background make no bones, they said, yes, this is why we're doing it. keeping the senate democratic. >> the president's denials that politics, i think are pro forma. of course it's politics. the president is a political leader, it's not forbidden for him to make decision that are sensible politics for his party and his governance. governing strategies. they're not lot of surprises here. >> truly, one wrap on obama he's not political enough he doesn't do politics well. seeing him in a little more
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political, cynical calculating mode that doesn't shock or upset me. >> schieffer: what do you think would be the fall out from this? >> i think it was odd move and an odd announcement on the president's part. here's why. it will upset his friends and strong members ever his space while at the same time it will not quiet his opposition because his opposition will say, okay, you know what we said probably going to do tuesday? he's going to do it tuesday but tuesday in november. it's not as if he changed his stances only his timing. i don't see what that -- i'll leave it there. i don't really see what that gets him. >> schieffer: you've already seen republican reaction. mitch mcconnell what he didn't say, wait until after the election. >> here is the analogy, this weekend, the 1994 mid-term
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election and often blamed on clinton's decision to go ahead with gun control measures in the election year. it had clinton waited until after that election he wouldn't have given issue to the opposition that cost them the congress they don't want to make what they see as mistake to president clinton made. is calculation, it is political, of course it's empty call. president's own words, meaning if he did it now in this political context. >> schieffer: he said at some point -- >> not why he's doing it. >> and spend next two months making the case, talking to the american people. he said the american people don't really understand. but he did not say, but i'm going to do this, i'm going to drive it home because i'm going to explain it, i'm going to linger over and spur swayed you come along with me. he didn't do that. his statement sort of suggested the american people will magically come to understand and agree with his position in november.
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tonight to moscow to talk to putin and see what he can find out and decide where we should go from there. what do you think is going to happen on that front? >> they received so-called cease fire. already see it beginning to fray. the goal, can i get this off the front page try to see if they can deal with larger, more substantial issues underlying the conflict. that's note easy thing. you can easily see this becoming what they call a frozen conflict in the soviet air a. sowf evacuate area which they simply -- sowf yet area where they remain at loggerheads. >> schieffer: do you see any good news there. >> i don't. one of these cease fire agreement you are thankful that people won't get killed. but i think this agreement ratifies russian gains, ratifies russian interventions through proxy forces, leaves ukraine, pot boiling, any time russians want to turn up the heat, it's unfortunate deal, shows really that the president in ukraine
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was getting overwhelmed on the battlefield. >> schieffer: i want to turn now to something else as we speak, the funeral has begun in new york for joan rivers. and peggy, you wrote a blog about her this week and what you think she means to the american people. i just want to hear from you about that a little bit. >> well, i think, a lot of people were swept the past few days of a tore by real affection for her, affection that almost took them aback. it was a tribute to how much we appreciate people who make us laugh. she was profane, she was on the border, she was transgressive, she was subverse i have she was whacky, she played the fool. she made america laugh for a long time, half a century. beautiful things have been written about her, i think she would have loved everyone of them.
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she was a great woman. >> schieffer: she left instructions to her daughter. i don't want to quiet thing here i want a big deal. i want hollywood, i want a lot of paparazzi which was just so joan rivers. >> going to be good. gay men's chorus will sing. the nypd it's going to be a show she would have loved it. >> schieffer: thank you all very much. we'll be back to look all those senate races outside washington how they're shaping up.
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"new york times" joint venture the 2014 battleground tracker. our own director of elections here at cbs news anthony salvanto. what is the led line? >> republicans still have the edge, bob. we would say that if the election were held today it would be 51-49 republican senate. the overall environment continues to favor them by which i mean the state of the economy is still seen as poor by most
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voters. and president's approval rating still under 50% historically you would image ip that would give the party out of power an edge. but it's how did that edge is that becomes political point here. those numbers could go a lot higher if the republicans, we see this in almost every state can move beyond very enthusiastic, very motivated conservative base start winning some of the moderates that they aren't yet getting. >> schieffer: in one of the key races that is down in georgia where michelle nunn is trying to win that seat that was held by republican. someone down there told me said, look, this is going to come down to two things. men and women, blacks and whites. said michelle won gets big turn out of women and big turn out of african americans she's going to win. if it goes the other way the republican purdue is going to win. what are you finding on that front? >> we see a gender gap in nearly
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every state, women are going for the democrats and men are going for for the republicans that is the case. turn out to go go to be huge in a lot of these states. in a lot of these states large parts of the electorate, georgia is one of them, north carolina is one of them, louisiana is one ever them, heavily democratic groups that tend not to vote in large numbers in the mid terms including african americans. if that changes you see democrats having a better chance this is by no means over. republicans are in better position, it's a 60-40 things. 40% chance democrats keep it. >> schieffer: it's very, very close in all these races. >> it's close in all of them. and what is keeping this close not just gender gap but also use of the current administration. the president is on the ballot in mid terms to some extent. in some of these states we see that over half of the voters say that they're going to the polls just to vote against the administration that is certainly motivating knack for for
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republicans for democrats running, that is arkansas that is louisiana, it's a lot of the already conservative southern states. that campaigning at a distance from the president we see that going on all over. >> schieffer: talk about that david. >> what are the close races right now? >> the way i think is there are six battleground races. the democrats need four to keep the senate, the problem is only two of them are in states that the president wants. basically republican territory in these six are arkansas, alaska, colorado, iowa, louisiana, north carolina. democrats need four of them. there's some fascinating races, iowa is a great race with popular democrat and conservative republican, you have tv ads with people firing guns and talking about hog castration and it's really close race. the they're going to be populous democrat or conservative democrat. colorado is another good one. folks around the country may look at these races say what do
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i learn nationally what is going on in some of these states. colorado has so many interest at play, energy, you have guns, you have pot, you have lot of things at work. i think that in all of these races though the other commonality that we see is really about whether democrats can motivate, something like presidential year turn out among their base right now we just don't see that. which is why republicans have very narrow edge atal all. >> schieffer: thank you all. we'll be back in a moment. when folks think about what they get from alaska,
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>> schieffer: that's it for us today. before we go we want to note the passing of long time cbs news correspondent bruce morton who died friday after a long battle with cancer. he was a gifted writer reported for cbs news for almost 30 years and he loved politics. he was 83. and next week we will be right back here when we'll be talking to new york democratic senator
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can i continues, and ken burns will be here to preview his new series for pbs "the roosevelts" we hope to see you then i'll see you tomorrow night on the cbs evening news. thanks for watching "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org
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and now a young boy is in t hospital. a mountain lion coming out of the woods and into human territory. now a young boy is in the hospital. good evening. this 6-year-old boy was attacked while at a winery in santa clara county this afternoon. kpix5 reporter juliette goodrich is live at the open space reserve where the officials are looking for the animal right now, juliet? >> the search is on now for that mountain lion. the parents had to fight off of mountain lie en. he was attacked a mile